Are Mannitol and Lactic Acid Indicators of Sugarcane Deterioration in a South African Context?

Deteriorated sugarcane can lead to processing difficulties in the factory and to high levels of unwanted compounds in the raw sugar, with some extending to refined sugar. A high level of dextran is one of the more serious processing problems in a sugar factory that is associated with deteriorated cane. The development of a rapid test to measure an indicator of the ‘amount of deterioration’ could be useful to determine whether a load of cane can be processed economically or not. Ethanol has been used as an indicator in the South African industry for many years. Indictors used in other sugarcane industries include dextran itself (monoclonal antibody method) and mannitol. This study describes an investigation of the possible use of mannitol or lactic acid as indicators of cane deterioration as measured by dextran. It further investigates the use of a rapid enzymatic method for mannitol analysis as an indicator of cane deterioration for use at individual mills.